NFL training camps are all going strong, preseason football is here and the NFL 24/7 news cycle is churning out news left and right. The average draft position (ADP) is adjusting in real time to all the news around all 32 camps, so getting the chance to participate in fantasy football mock drafts lets you get a grasp on the positional value and where you can draft players in real time.
Let's dive into some of my favorite middle-round picks to target using my latest fantasy football mock draft.
In Rashee Rice's three full games last season, he averaged 9.6 targets and 96 receiving yards per game, as well as scoring touchdowns in two of the three games. It's likely Rice would have continued his ascent and would have been a clear step up in 2024 from a promising rookie campaign. Fantasy managers who drafted Rice were robbed of that thanks to a fluke knee injury on an interception return.
Rice was incredibly efficient in the few games he played last season. If he retains that utilization into this season, he will be one of the best target-earning wide receivers in fantasy. If we're talking about third-year leaps, Rice will be the poster child with a full season of games. Yes, he's going to see a suspension of at least a few games, but getting him in the middle rounds with the upside he provides your fantasy team is stealing.
This grouping of wide receivers features undervalued assets based on where they were drafted in this particular mock. Tetairoa McMillan is a rookie Drake London-esque bet to take over his team's target earning with much better quarterbacking and passing-game environment. The Panthers haven't had a true alpha wide receiver in some time, and McMillan profiles as that, so the team spending a top-10 NFL Draft pick on him tells us they're going to give him a ton of opportunity with little midseason ramp-up necessary.
With us not taking a wide receiver in the first two rounds and then spending two of the first three wide receiver picks on a rookie and somebody who will see a suspension at some point this season, Jerry Jeudy is a nice floor play. We finally got the Jeudy breakout in 2024, but repeating that efficiency is going to be a bit of a challenge with the quarterback situation in Cleveland. That said, the volume will still be there, and beggars can't be choosers in the sixth round. Getting 144 targets this late feels good and should help us bridge the gap with a Rice suspension and any potential McMillan growing pains.
The entire San Francisco 49ers receiving corps is in shambles. Whether it's Brandon Aiyuk missing several weeks at the beginning of the season and Jauan Jennings' calf injury leaving him without a timetable, it's a bit bleak. Still, I'm not super worried about Jennings at this stage as we still have weeks to go before Week 1. Last season, Jennings was 14th among all wide receivers with at least 150 routes with a 2.26 YPRR and was 14th in TPRR as well, earning a target on over 25% of his routes. His per-route efficiency was a major coup for any fantasy manager lucky enough to snag him off of waivers.
Even with everybody healthy in San Francisco, it's still a pretty ambiguous receiving room, but expect Jennings to be a huge part of that. In the seventh round, the price is right to see if Jennings can give a worthy encore to this 2024 campaign.
A pair of running backs that can swap in and out as our RB2 next to Jahmyr Gibbs, both Jordan Mason and J.K. Dobbins should be plenty involved in their teams' running game this season.
After an early-offseason trade that sent Mason from the 49ers to the Vikings, it puts Mason in the catbird seat behind Aaron Jones, who has never been a picture of health in his career. Mason was awesome in the early part of 2024, but then struggled with some injuries, and then Christian McCaffrey came back, relegating him to a seldom-used contingent play.
Mason was rarely used in the passing game, so his overall upside is potentially limited to being a two-down grinder with a goal-line role, but he does it well, and that's good enough for RB2 treatment if Jones is out. It's an excellent contingent bet for Mason, and the intent for the Vikings to go and get him to pair with Jones feels bullish for Mason's prospects this season.
After a torn Achilles' tendon ended his 2023 season with just one game played, Dobbins was pretty much left for dead as far as his fantasy prospects were concerned. Dobbins latched onto a run-heavy Chargers team and rushed for 905 yards with 4.8 yards per carry and more targets (38) than he had in his previous three seasons combined (35).
Now in Denver, Dobbins should have an early-down role secured in Week 1 as he'll presumably split some work with rookie RJ Harvey. In the middle of the ninth round, any back with a defined role is one we're going to take advantage of in drafts.